In case you’ve forgotten, we want your crazy recruiting stories!

And in case you’re really forgotten, we’re giving away prizes for your craziest recruiting stories!  (As mentioned previously, the judging process will be subjective, but democratic in nature.)

To help kick us off, a Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter submitted a crazy story, one that happened to him recently.  While you enjoy this story, think back to some of the outlandish things that have happened to YOU during your many searches . . .

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I have a good one that just happened a couple months ago.

I’m just finishing a search for a regular client adding a new COO position.  At the beginning of the search, they provided me with 10 names of people they wanted me to check out that were names referred by some industry people they knew.  I talked to one of the referral sources (a CEO at another company) and she said this one particular person used to work for her and was fantastic, but she hadn’t talked with her in a few years.

When I called that person’s company, I was screened much harder by the initial receptionist than I would expect.  I was told I wouldn’t be able to contact her, which was strange because she wasn’t a high executive.  After doing some more research, I found out why they wouldn’t let me through.

It turns out she is currently the girlfriend of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Upon telling the hiring CEO the news, he told me that should I get through to her, I had the authority to offer her the job on the spot.

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Remember, there are two ways you can submit your “Craziest Recruiting Story”:

1. You can email your story to marketing@TopEchelon.com.
2. You can give me a call at 330.455.1433, x125 and relay your story to me.

Remember, your story does NOT have to be from 2013.  If you have a crazy recruiting story that you’d like to submit and it occurred in a year other than this year, please share it with us, anyway.  You could still win a prize!

We’ve had more than our fair share of “Crazy Recruiting Stories” that revolve around the actions of candidates . . . and there will most certainly be more such stories in the future.  In the meantime, though, here’s one in the present.

This week’s tale was submitted by a Preferred Member recruiter.  The story just goes to show—once again—that you never know what’s going to happen when you schedule a face-to-face interview for a candidate.

Remember, if you have a crazy recruiting story that you believe would be suitable for The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog, then by all means, tell it to us (see below).  We may publish your story in the newsletter, and it might even be named “The Craziest Recruiting Story of 2011.”

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When I was a HR manager with a division of the Jervis B. Webb Company (a control engineering company in Harbor Springs, Mich.), I had advertised for an engineer with a B.S. degree and mechanical engineering and metals design experience.

A guy walks into the lobby, and I get a call from the receptionist.  She says, “Mr. Gregg, you need to come to the lobby.  Your engineering candidate is here.”  I told her to just send him back to my office.  She replies, in a whispered voice, “No, I think you need to come to the lobby first.”

Somewhat agitated, I walk out to the lobby and there stands a tall Indian, dressed in a full Indian outfit, with large feathers, moccasins, and war paint on his face!  Wow!  I looked at him for a moment and said, “You’re not dressed appropriately for a professional interview and will need to re-schedule and come back later.”

He hands me a card and says, “You’ll be hearing from my attorney.”  (I knew I was being set up.)  I handed him a corporate business card and said, “Just send it to my corporate attorney, and for what it’s worth, if we get sued, you get counter-sued.”

He left, and I never heard anymore about it.  Whew!

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Remember, there are three ways you can submit your “Craziest Recruiting Story”:

1. You can email your story to marketing@TopEchelon.com.
2. You can post the story by including it in the comments section at the end of this blog.
3. You can give me a call and relay your story to me.

The deadline for submitting your “Craziest Recruiting Story of 2011” is midnight on Saturday, December 31.  We’ll announce the winner during the first part of January in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog and the Recruiter Training Blog.

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330.455.1433, Ext. 125
MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
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Let’s face it . . . when it comes to “Crazy Recruiting Stories,” candidates are usually at the center of the pandemonium.  In other words, they’re often the source of it—and whatever stress that it produces for the recruiter (or recruiters) involved.

This week’s installment of “Crazy Recruiting Stories” is no different.

In fact, we have a triple-header of such tales, all courtesy of Preferred Member recruiter Rebecca Kohn of Affinity Executive Search.  Kohn works in the Agriculture, Animal Science, and Food Processing industries, among others, and she’s encountered her fair share of pandemonium in regards to candidates.

She was good enough to share three uber-short stories with us that illustrate the integral role that candidates often play in the unpredictable world of recruiting.

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“I once had a candidate who had an unusual request before agreeing to an interview.  She needed to make sure that she could park her trailer full of livestock for the interview.

“I once had a candidate who was rejected because he referred to somebody as a ‘knucklehead’ and a ‘good ol’ boy.’  That didn’t go well.

“I once had a candidate who had his license taken away for drunk driving.  He then went on a two-hour drive to interview with a company.  He drove there without a license, and then he outright told the company about it.  Needless to say, he didn’t get the job.”

— — —

Remember, there are three ways you can submit your “Craziest Recruiting Story”:

1. You can email your story to marketing@TopEchelon.com.
2. You can post the story by including it in the comments section at the end of this blog.
3. You can give me a call and relay your story to me.

The deadline for submitting your “Craziest Recruiting Story of 2011” is midnight on Saturday, December 31.  We’ll announce the winner during the first part of January in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog and the Recruiter Training Blog.

Keep those “crazy” stories coming!  (We can never get enough.)

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330.455.1433, Ext. 125
MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn.
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The crazy recruiting stories keep pouring in as part of our “Craziest Recruiting Story of 2011” contest . . . so we’re going to keep publishing them!  (After all, that’s what you want.)  And all of these stories are like snowflakes or fingerprints—none of them are exactly alike.  They all have their distinctly different shade of crazy, which makes perfect sense if you’re a recruiter.  You know exactly what can happen on a daily basis in this profession, so much so that what might seem crazy to the rest of the world is perfectly routine for you.

This week’s story was submitted by a Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter, and this is one of the few stories that ended with a recruiter actually placing the candidate.  He didn’t place the candidate once, either.  Schutt placed him three times!  That, perhaps more than anything, is what makes the story so “crazy.”

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“I received a resume from a Case graduate—Master’s Degree, BSEE, Putnam Fellow honors, etc.  This was about 1986 or so, when I worked for another agency in Beachwood.  The interview rooms faced south with a window about 8’ x 8’.  The secretary said that there was somebody to see me, but that I should hold my nose.  I went into the room and shook the guy’s hand.

“He was about 6-4 and as skinny as you can get, with a button-down shirt that was buttoned all the way to the top with no tie and flood pants.  There were salt stains from his armpits to within about four inches of his pants.  I thought I was going to die from the smell.  By policy, we closed the door for an interview, but I did not do that because I wanted to live.

“It turns out that the candidate was a very brilliant engineer, so I decided to market the guy, knowing that I would get job orders and interviews.  Anyway, I got some interviews.  I asked my boss what I should do with this guy.  He said to send him out and tell him to take a shower, which I did over the phone.  He goes on the interview and gets the job.

“But wait, it gets better.  This guy becomes a bit of a cash machine.  I have the guy on six interviews, get him four offers, and place him three times.  It turns out he had a gland problem, and there wasn’t much he could do about his sweating.  He works at Cisco in California now, I believe.  The lesson here, at least in Engineering, is don’t let appearances stop you from setting up an interview!”

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Remember, there are three ways you can submit your “Craziest Recruiting Story”:

1. You can email your story to marketing@TopEchelon.com.
2. You can post the story by including it in the comments section at the end of this blog.
3. You can give me a call and relay your story to me.

The deadline for submitting your “Craziest Recruiting Story of 2011” is midnight on Saturday, December 31.  We’ll announce the winner during the first part of January in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog and the Recruiter Training Blog.

Three months to go!  Keep those “crazy” stories coming!

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330.455.1433, Ext. 125
MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn.
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Many of the craziest recruiting stories that we present here have to do with the candidate . . . namely, something that the candidate does or something that happens TO the candidate.  Take, for instance, last week’s crazy recruiting stories.

If that’s Exhibit A, then this week’s story is Exhibit B.  The story in question is courtesy of Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter Eric Berg of JN Adams & Associates, Inc.  Berg specializes in the placement of professionals in the Quality, Engineering, and Manufacturing industries.

Berg’s story is a short one, but it’s undoubtedly one that he won’t ever forget.

“I worked with a Manufacturing candidate over a period of time, and I referred him for a middle management position.  He had a good background and a clean resume.  And then he went on the interview and showed up in a dress.”

Needless to say, Berg’s client did not extend an offer of employment, full-time or otherwise.  However, all was not lost for Berg, especially what was most important.

“We didn’t lose the client,” he said. “But what appeared on paper and was heard over the phone was obviously not the person who showed up for the interview.  In 10 years, I’ve had applicants show up drunk.  That’s not a big deal, but this was a bit unsettling.”

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Remember, there are three ways you can submit your “Craziest Recruiting Story”:

1. You can email your story to marketing@TopEchelon.com.
2. You can post the story by including it in the comments section at the end of this blog.
3. You can give me a call and relay your story to me.

The deadline for submitting your “Craziest Recruiting Story of 2011” is midnight on Saturday, December 31.  We’ll announce the winner during the first part of January in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog and also on “Top Echelon TV.”

Send us your stories . . . and may the craziest win.

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330.455.1433, Ext. 125
MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn.
Follow Matt on Twitter.

Everybody gather around the fire.  Uncle Steve is about to tell us some more stories of horror from the recruiting trenches.

Okay, so maybe it’s not quite like that, but Halloween is just around the corner, after all, and what better time to share recruiter horror stories than during the Halloween season.  More than one recruiter has been tricked out of a placement treat by a candidate, hiring authority, or both, and sharing such stories is very much cathartic.

Not to mention the fact that you might win the “Craziest Recruiting Story of 2011” award.  Not that it’s an actual award.  You see, it’s more about bragging rights and—never mind.  I’m ranting.  You came here for more tales of the crazy, and Steve Kohn of Affinity Executive Search just happens to have a couple of them . . .

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“I had a client in the video distribution business (supplier to Blockbuster in the early days) who was seeking a Chief Financial Officer, and miraculously a video distribution CFO saw my ad and answered.  I asked him why he was available, and he explained this story to me.

He was CFO of an X-rated movie company, which was not obvious from his resume.  To quote him as exactly as I can recall, ‘The owner was banging some of the actresses, and his wife caught him.  She blew his brains out in his office and was charged with murder.  Her defense is draining the cash out of the company, and we’re in bankruptcy because of it.’

“I also had a candidate this past year who was being considered for a $150K job with one of Craig Chrest‘s clients.  A Google search revealed that the guy was being charged with his ex-wife’s recent murder.  That was the end of that one!”

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Remember, there are three ways you can submit your “Craziest Recruiting Story”:

1. You can email your story to marketing@TopEchelon.com.
2. You can post the story by including it in the comments section at the end of this blog.
3. You can give me a call and relay your story to me.

The deadline for submitting your “Craziest Recruiting Story of 2011” is midnight on Saturday, December 31.  We’ll announce the winner during the first part of January in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog and also on “Top Echelon TV.”

Send us your stories.  The more (crazy), the merrier.

— — —

330.455.1433, Ext. 125
MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn.
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Some of the crazy recruiting stories that we’ve relayed during the past month or so have involved animals, specifically those that dealt with jobs in the Animal Science and/or Animal Nutrition industries.  However, this week’s story deviates from that pattern—it’s a crazy recruiting story that involves an animal and doesn’t involve either of those industries.

A Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter submitted this story to us recently, and according to Jenkins, it happened approximately two years ago.  If you’re afraid of snakes, you might find this story to be as unsettling as it is “crazy.”  Enjoy!

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“My client was a very large telecom company in need of an excellent software developer.  Many recruiting calls were made, and I felt that I found the perfect candidate.  He answered all of the ‘test’ questions very well, was available, and had wonderful references from his past three positions.  He admitted he was shy in a crowd, loved animals, was an excellent marksman, and had hockey tickets to the [Colorado] Avalanche pro hockey team.  He even offered to take me to their next game.  He also mentioned that he suffered from Asperger’s Syndrome.  According to him, the effect was that he was very very good at discussing one topic at a time with people, but if he was in a crowd of people and had to jump from conversation to conversation, it was incredibly hard for him.

“Though his comment about being awkward in a crowd gave me pause, I did not feel it would be a problem, since the position would be dealing with people over the phone and not face-to-face.  I felt the position would fit him well and introduced his credentials to the client.  They loved his background and immediately asked me to set up a face-to-face interview for the very next day.  The candidate was kind enough to call me from his cell phone, saying he was en route to the interview and would was on schedule to arrive about five minutes before the appointed time.  Thoughts of invoicing the client before the end of the day entered my mind as I commenced making my routine phone calls.

“About five minutes before the interview was to begin, and right in the midst of a rather in-depth marketing call, up pops an instant message on my computer from the guy who had recommended our firm for the search.  All it said was, “What’s up with the freaking snake around his neck?”  As you can imagine, my attention was diverted to this issue, and I called my contact immediately.  It turns out that the candidate loved animals so well that he took his pet boa constrictor most everywhere—even to a job interview.  To make a long story short, he cleared out an entire floor of workers as he entered the building.  I did not get the placement.  The upside is that two days later he called as if nothing was wrong and asked if we were still on for the hockey game.”

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Remember, there are three ways you can submit your “Craziest Recruiting Story”:

1. You can email your story to marketing@TopEchelon.com.
2. You can post the story by including it in the comments section at the end of this blog.
3. You can give me a call and relay your story to me.

The deadline for submitting your “Craziest Recruiting Story of 2011” is midnight on Saturday, December 31.  We’ll announce the winner during the first part of January in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog and the Recruiter Training Blog.

Halloween is just around the corner, so send us your recruiting stories of the strange and unusual . . . and of course, the crazy.

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330.455.1433, Ext. 125
MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn.
Follow Matt on Twitter.

Many recruiters have submitted their craziest recruiting story ever—but some have gone so far as to submit more than one crazy recruiting story.  One such recruiter is Steve Kohn of Affinity Executive Search, who submitted three gems to us via email.  Rather than try to cram them all into one blog post, we’re going to space them out for your enjoyment.

So enjoy . . . and pray this doesn’t happen to you.

— — —

“I had a client who was seeking a National Sales Manager.  They are a timer manufacturer.  The VP said he wants someone who:

• had 10 years of sales management experience
• had knowledge of time clock distribution channels
• was married
• was in his 30s
• had children
• was Italian

I told him that I could only use the first two criteria and that was all I would use.

So, I conducted the search and found that the NSM of their main competitor was available.  He was also 32 years old, married with two children, local, and Italian!

I present the candidate.  Phone interview is great. He goes a face to face interview.  Comes out saying it went great.  I call the VP thinking we’re about to close, and he tells me “John was fantastic, and you did a great job.  It’s too bad we can’t hire him.”

Stupefied, I said “WHY NOT?”

He said “during the conversations we realized that we’re cousins.  I can’t him because he’s a relative.  That would be nepotism.  It’s unethical.”

— — —

Remember, there are three ways you can submit your “Craziest Recruiting Story”:

1. You can email your story to marketing@TopEchelon.com.
2. You can post the story by including it in the comments section at the end of this blog.
3. You can give me a call and relay your story to me.

The deadline for submitting your “Craziest Recruiting Story of 2011” is midnight on Saturday, December 31.  We’ll announce the winner during the first part of January in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog and also on “Top Echelon TV.”

Bring on the “Crazy.”  We’re ready for it.

— — —

330.455.1433, Ext. 125
MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn.
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Okay, so this “Crazy Recruiting Story” is 11 years old . . . but we don’t care.  It’s a doozy, as the headline of this blog post most definitely hints.

The story was submitted to us recently by a Top Echelon Preferred Member recruiter.  So let’s get down to business, shall we?  Enough of me yakking—bring on the “Crazy.”

— — —

“In 2000, I received a call from a large automotive manufacturer that wanted our help in filling a variety of engineers and technician positions.  They were rapidly expanding, their business was good, and they didn’t want to add to their Human Resources staff.

“In my initial meeting, they ‘held out the carrot’ that if we did a good job, there could be a large number of placements coming in the next couple of years.  They explained that we would be their outside partner in filling the positions and that they would stop using advertising and Internet postings and use our firm exclusively.  An opportunity of a lifetime was landing in our lap!

“The first candidate we presented was interviewed, and they immediately went to an offer.  They wanted him to start even before references were completed.  Not having any issues in the past with references, I was not concerned and told them I would get going on them.  The candidate started the next day.

“Phone calls to the references weren’t returned at first, and the candidate’s degree verification was not checking out.  The college had no record of him.  When confronted with that information, he responded with, “My mom has my diploma hanging on her living room wall.  I will get a copy of it faxed to you.”  No surprise when the fax machine never rang with an incoming message over the next couple of days.  I did speak with one reference who gave an okay, but not glowing, recommendation.

“During all of this I kept my client informed of the challenges I was having and that my concerns were growing.  They told me not to worry about it and that he seemed to be doing fine so far in the job, but for me to keep at the process.

“With all of what happened so far in trying to verify his degree, who would have been surprised by the phone call that I received from my client at the end of his first week on the job?  ‘Hey Jerry, the police just came to our site and arrested our newest employee.’

“Not one, but two police officers showed up to haul my first placement with my newest client away in handcuffs.  Later, I was told by a friend of mine who is a police officer that they only send out two officers if the guy is REALLY bad.

“My heart sank and my embarrassment level was at its all-time peak.  I knew that this wasn’t good for customer relations and would never lead to continued business or satisfied customer referrals.

“The good news is that my client knew that they had pushed the process forward before due diligence.  The better news is that they had a sense of humor about it.  The best news is that we went on to make multiple placements with them in the next three years: $74,000 in 2000, $70,000 in 2001, and $34,000 in 2002 for a total of $178,000 in fees.

The lessons learned . . .

#1. Really good things can come out of a seemingly dark situation.

#2. Make sure that all of the details are taken care of before a candidate begins working for your client.

And #3. They only send out two officers to arrest your candidate if the guy is REALLY bad.

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Remember, there are three ways you can submit your “Craziest Recruiting Story”:

1. You can email your story to marketing@TopEchelon.com.
2. You can post the story by including it in the comments section at the end of this blog.
3. You can give me a call and relay your story to me.

The deadline for submitting your “Craziest Recruiting Story of 2011” is midnight on Saturday, December 31.  We’ll announce the winner during the first part of January in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog and also on “Top Echelon TV.”

C’mon, don’t be shy.  Send me your crazy recruiting stories.  Everybody’s doing it.

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330.455.1433, Ext. 125
MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn.
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Last week, I put out a call for your craziest recruiting stories . . . and you responded.  I received a bunch of emails from Preferred Member recruiters, all of them containing crazy recruiting stories from either this past year or from some point during their career.

As promised, we’ll be publishing these stories in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog (as well as in the Recruiter Training Blog).  Why?  Well, for one thing, they’re crazy!  Which, of course, makes them entertaining.  And second, all recruiters everywhere take comfort in the knowledge that things like this don’t ONLY happen to them.  There’s plenty of craziness to go around.

This week’s crazy recruiting story—stories, actually—were emailed to us by Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter Stacy Pursell of The Pursell Group, LLC.  Those stories are as follows:

“I have many crazy recruiting stories, including one time I had to wait for a candidate to begin his new position a month after he accepted the offer because he had to go on a cattle drive.  With another candidate, I had to find stables to board her horses in New Jersey before she would take the offer.  One time, another candidate would only consider the opportunity if we could find his son fencing lessons in the new city where the job was.”

“Recently I had to wait for a candidate to take his sheep to another state to get sheared and to be sold before he was available for an interview.  Lastly, I recently had a candidate accept a counter-offer because his current employer held him hostage for a week in one part of their building and threatened him with legal action if he left for a competitor.  Never a dull moment in recruiting!”

Remember, there are three ways you can submit your “Craziest Recruiting Story”:

1. You can email your story to marketing@TopEchelon.com.
2. You can post the story by including it in the comments section at the end of this blog.
3. You can give me a call and relay your story to me.